The feelgood factor will be tangible at Castleford on Sunday afternoon, as the Tigers expect a big crowd down Wheldon Road for the visit of Wigan – there is even a forecast of spring sunshine. No one will appreciate that transformation more than Steve Gill, who has been working as the club's chief executive for just over a year, and found the burden so great during the winter that he turned to the Sporting Chance charity to combat his depression.

It was on Christmas Day that Gill, a local man whose relationship with Cas began almost 50 years ago when he operated the scoreboard, realised that the job had taken over his life to an unhealthy extent. "It's my favourite time of year, I had my grandkids around me, we were playing charades but my mind was elsewhere, on what I should be doing at the club," he says. "Tears came down in my eyes."

Sporting Chance, and rugby league's State of Mind organisation, have been set up primarily to help players and ex-players cope with the stresses of their jobs. Gill's turmoil, and his willingness to discuss it, is a rare reminder of the strain on those behind the scenes.

Cas were in a mess, on and off the field, when Gill's predecessor, Steve Ferres, resigned last February. "I didn't realise how tough it was until I stepped in," says Gill, who had been working as the head of youth performance, and initially took over on a temporary basis. "I got through on adrenaline really, with the help of a lot of good people around me and especially our chairman, Jack Fulton, who was like a father figure. I think that's what happened in the winter, the adrenaline stopped and the depression kicked in."

Crucially, in April Cas had appointed Daryl Powell, another local man who had previously coached at Leeds and was working at nearby Featherstone, to succeed Ian Millward. Results improved, and a disillusioned rugby town was steadily won over.

Now, despite the sale of Rangi Chase to Salford, a shrewdly reshaped squad have started with consecutive wins against Bradford, Catalan and Hull KR. The early-season success of Cas and Widnes, who beat a Chase-less Salford on Thursday night to match the Tigers' three-from-three record, has restored two of the Super League's smalltown clubs to a high-flying position they have not enjoyed for decades.

"We're both capable, us and Widnes, of staying in that top eight," says Gill. "We've got workmanlike teams, which are a testament to how the coaches have put them together. I do think it's important to have people at the club, like me and Daryl and his assistant, Danny Orr, who are from the town and know what it means."

That can present its own problems, as Gill discovered. Now he, like the Tigers, is smiling again.